South Korea, U.S. Reaffirm Denuclearization Goal Despite Omission in Diplomatic Call Readouts

By Oh Seok-min SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States remain committed to the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula despite the omission of the term from the readouts of their top diplomats' latest phone call, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday. The ministry made the comment after its press release on Monday's call between Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to "the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue" but did not explicitly mention denuclearization. The U.S. State Department's separate readout of the talks also did not mention Pyongyang's nuclear issue or denuclearization. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott simply said Rubio noted the need for the two countries to "remain in close coordination on matters that are integral to the alliance." "South Korea and the U.S. have consistently maintained the goal of peace, stability and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, as stated in the joint explanatory material following the South Korea-U.S. summit in November last year," ministry spokesperson Park Do-sun said at a regular press briefing. Seoul and Washington have been pursuing their North Korea policies "through close coordination to achieve the aforementioned goal, and related discussions also took place during this latest phone call between the foreign ministers," he added. Questions have grown over whether the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is placing less emphasis on the long-standing goal of denuclearizing North Korea as Trump seeks to reengage with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Trump said he expects to meet Kim again later this year, while declining last week to say whether denuclearization remains his goal in seeking to reengage with Kim. South Korea and the U.S. also scaled back their combined military exercises last week at Trump's direction, a move seen as a conciliatory gesture toward Pyongyang.